The ruling Patriotic Front (PF) has challenged police to produce evidence that the people allegedly being accused of terrorising individuals with opposing views from the government were PF cadres.

Party deputy secretary general Bridget Atanga said that it was not true that members of the PF had both attacked Alliance for Better Zambia leader Frank Bwalya and the Civil Society members that went for prayers in Matero a fortnight ago.

Mrs Atanga said no police officer had been to the party to lodge a complaint about alleged PF members being behind the attacks.

The PF leader also said that police officers who were allowing lawlessness in the country should be fired because they have the mandate to protect citizens.

She said claims that the officers receive instructions from the party or government not to prosecute the law breakers were not true because no one had the mandate to control the operations of the police.

“What type of police officers would allow for lawlessness in the country? They need to be fired because they are there to protect all Zambians and perform the duties which they are employed for. It is not true that it is now a PF police and Zambians must see to it that police perform their duties professionally,” she said.

She said the PF believed in peace adding that it did not need to take President Michael Sata to condemn the violence that was going on for people to believe that he did not condone it.

She said if Fr Frank Bwalya had the evidence of the people who attacked him, he should report them to the police to allow for the law to take its course.

“I don’t believe it is our party members that are perpetuating violence because there has never been a single officer that came to my office to complain about my children. Everyone is accusing my children because there is no uniform and when we were in the opposition, we were being attacked by MMD cadres and unless the people confess to me that they were our members then we can believe it,” he said.

Mrs Atanga said that for as long as there was no evidence to show that the attackers belonged to the ruling party, they would not buy the accusations.